An old face piles more pressure on Ferrari: what you missed at the 2025 Bahrain GP

The Bahrain Grand Prix weekend started with the potential to be an extremely political one, but it actually settled down when it came to FIA dramas and power unit discussions. There was still a need for a mea culpa though, on top of an uplifting moment involving Michael Schumacher and Sir Jackie Stewart.

A predictable outcome on V10s

There are times when you don’t write about certain topics as early as you should, because you just can’t see any logic to them and feel like the outcome is already preordained.

That was the case with the V10 engine rumours that surfaced over the past few weeks and started to really gather some pace around the Chinese Grand Prix onwards, because it just made no sense that teams and engine manufacturers would want to throw away all of the time, effort and money that had gone into the 2026 power unit regulations any sooner than had been initially planned.

The upcoming regulations had enticed Honda back to the sport, as well as convinced Audi to join as a power unit manufacturer, and been attractive enough for Ford to want to partner with Red Bull.

While that’s not to say they are perfect, or that the respective manufacturers might not be open to different directions in future, they are just nine months away from running cars on track for the first time and it certainly would not be more cost-effective to throw any of that in the bin early after hastily developing a V10 or V8 in parallel.

Clearly there is interest in a naturally-aspirated engine running on sustainable fuel, but as always with such big decision, time to properly research the hunger for it from all stakeholders is important. And so it was extremely predictable when the meeting of the FIA, F1 and power unit manufacturers ended with an agreement to not make any snap decisions but to continue dialogue.

It had been a talking point because of opinions expressed individually but when it came to sitting around a table, common sense prevailed. By all accounts it was a productive meeting getting the viewpoints of all those involved, and working collaboratively – an approach that was agreed on prior to the meeting by the FIA and F1.

The sport could still head in that direction in the future, and those who were opposed to it are now far more calm that the future rules can be discussed in a more considered manner.

Luca’s first appearance in a decade

Luca di Montezemolo was once a mainstay of the Formula 1 paddock, to such an extent that it wasn’t a massive surprise seeing him walk through the gates in Bahrain this weekend.

But that entrance was the first time he had attended a race in over a decade, dating back to the Italian Grand Prix in 2014, when he was still working for Ferrari.

Di Montezemolo wasted no time in making his feelings known while he was present, stating that the team lacks leadership at certain times. But according to one source who worked with him, that’s a sign of one of di Montezemolo’s weaknesses that ultimately led to his departure, as he lost some of the patience he’d had to build the team into a winning machine.

The reason for the outing was to raise awareness for the Race Against Dementia charity on the 60th anniversary of his Formula 1 debut, and Stewart was wearing a specially-commissioned version of his helmet that had been signed by all 20 living F1 world champions.

That included Schumacher, who was helped by his wife Corinna to sign his initials on the helmet.

The ‘MS’ insignia was clear on the chinstrap of Stewart’s iconic design, and will be of huge benefit to the fundraising, with the helmet set to be auctioned off to race funds for dementia research.

Barilla pulls in some big names

I will admit, when I was invited to the launch of Formula 1’s new ‘Official Pasta Partner’ I was not exactly putting the event at the top of my to-do list during the race weekend, and scoffed a little at the fact that such obscure partners were being found. Not obscure in terms of the size of Barilla, but obscure to have an Official Pasta Partner.

But a pre-FP1 press conference meant it was possible to go along, and the whole event drew a surprisingly big crowd. For starters, it was hosted by Nico Rosberg, who has been associated with Barilla vice president (and former Minardi driver) Paolo Barilla for a number of years. But it also attracted Piero Ferrari, Jean Alesi and Flavio Briatore, along with – of course – F1 president Stefano Domenicali.

As good as the pasta was, the highlight was definitely the explanation of the name change from three Michelin-starred chef Massimo Bottura, who said Lewis Hamilton liked it so much when he was served it in the legendary Ristorante Cavallino that he asked for three servings.

As a result it was initially called Spaghetti di Lewis, but on seeing Rosberg’s face when informed he joked he changed it to Spaghetti with tomato five times.